Malaysia and Singapore Retain Top Spots in Global Muslim Travel Index

Malaysia and Singapore have retained their positions as the top destinations in the global Muslim travel market.

The MasterCard - CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2016, which covers 130 destinations, saw Malaysia retain its number one position on the list of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations with UAE moving up one spot to second place.

Singapore also retained its pole position for the non-OIC destinations, with Thailand, United Kingdom, South Africa and Hong Kong making up the top five.

The study revealed that in 2015, there were an estimated 117 million Muslim visitor arrivals globally, representing close to 10% of the entire travel market. This is forecast to grow to 168 million visitors by 2020 representing 11% of the market segment with a market value spend projected to exceed US$200 billion.

Asia and Europe were the two leading regions in the world for attracting Muslim visitors - accounting for 87% of the entire market.

“The MasterCard-CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index 2016 has now become the number one tool for destinations around the world to realign their strategies to reach out to the Muslim consumer. One of the biggest trends we are seeing is non-OIC destinations making a concerted effort to attract the Muslim tourist and they now represent over 63% of the destinations covered in the GMTI. For example, Japan and Philippines have taken some major steps over the last few months to diversify their visitor arrivals and boost their economy in the process,” said Fazal Bahardeen, CEO of CrescentRating & HalalTrip.

Matthew Driver, Group Executive, Global Products & Solutions, Asia Pacific, MasterCard, said, “Many already successful destinations around the world are looking to diversify their visitor base to maintain tourist growth rates in today’s increasingly competitive travel market. The fast growing Muslim travel segment is an opportunity in plain sight but in order to benefit from it, it is crucial to understand the needs and preferences of Muslim travelers and how to adapt and tailor products and services for them. We believe that the GMTI provides real value to businesses and governments looking to tap into this important and growing market segment.”

MasterCard - CrescentRating Global Muslim Travel Index

GMTI 2016 looks at in-depth data covering 130 destinations, up from 100 covered in the 2015 index.

All 130 destinations in the GMTI have been scored against a backdrop of criteria including suitability as a family holiday destination, the level of services and facilities provided, accommodation options, marketing initiatives as well as visitor arrivals.

Each criteria was then weighted to make up the overall index score. This year, two new criteria - air connectivity and visa restrictions - were added to further enhance the Index.

Malaysia has an Index score of 81.9, followed by UAE at 74.7 and Turkey at 73.9. The highest scoring non-OIC destination were Singapore which scored 68.4 followed by Thailand at 59.5.

Taiwan and Japan have continued to improve their overall rankings. The overall average GMTI score for the complete 130 destinations currently stands at 43.7.

From a regional perspective, Asia Pacific destinations lead with an average GMTI score of 56.5.

The index helps destinations, travel services and investors to track the health and growth of this travel segment while benchmarking their individual progress in reaching out to this growing market.

See more: Pictures of Terengganu, Malaysia.

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